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From:
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Forum post editing
Posted:
Sep 16, 2008, 10:54 PM
While reading/re-reading the leaderboard topic on this forum I've noticed there are alot of posts that are getting edited later on by the authors.
There is nothing wrong with editing a post, but the number of edits and the size of the edits (lots of stuff changed) makes it very hard to understand what is going on when you read the thread from the beginning.
The other problem being when you first post a message an email gets sent to anyone watching the forum, but an edit does not send an email, so things get even stranger.
I'm not sure what the best solutions to these problem are. Does anyone have experience with other forums and how they handle this sort of thing?
I don't want to totally remove the ability of people to edit posts, but maybe one or more of these ideas: 1. don't allow editing posts more than a day or two old. 2. send the email when posts are updated. 3. always put up a notice at the bottom of the thread that the post was edited (now that is optional)
Re: Forum post editing
Posted:
Sep 17, 2008, 4:13 AM
Generally speaking, I'd say editing a post after a response is made to that post can confuse things- occasionally I'm guilty of that sin. A lot of times forum ettiquette finds the following things acceptable - posting a note of something like (edited for clarity, spelling, ETA- edited to add) within the post. Those who are watching a topic already get to see two versions, provided they actually are interested enough in the topic to come visit the forum, anyway. Those who haven't been watching the topic prior to the edit hopefully get a clearer reading topic.
When a thread turns emotional, people will often post things which they may later regret posting and decide to edit. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, but those who do this should be aware that once you click the post button that post is generally out there for someone to read- whether it be the forum admin, the thread starter, or possibly all the subscribers to the thread- even if you decide later on that you didn't really want to post that message. A lot of times I will ask myself the question "do I really want to post this for public viewing, or was just it just a rant which I can now delete?" If the answer is #2, I may save it on my computer in order to figure out what I wanted to say in a less emotional way once I've cooled down.
Anyway, those are a few thoughts of mine. Disagreements and personality clashes will happen in any forum of any type and the bigger and more active the forum, the more they can flare up.
In terms of edits, I've seen examples of all of the solutions you've mentioned. If the last option is picked, I would recommend only the latest edit be stamped on the post; frequently I will edit a post several times to add more information, but I generally only leave (at most) one edit stamp on it.
Retired from TB Pente, but still playing live games & exploring variants like D, poof and boat
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the land of smelly cheese
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Re: Forum post editing
Posted:
Sep 17, 2008, 4:46 AM
Well I'm guilty of that editing sin too
A few options:
- don't allow any edit once there has been a reply. The original poster can always make another reply to correct and/or add any information.
- definitely make the 'Edited + time stamp' compulsory. Right now it's too easy to edit but make it look like it wasn't.
- One thing I've seen in other forums, is where when editing, you have to have a reason for the edit, and this is selected by a pull-down menu, with preset reasons which are the only ones allowed.
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Re: Forum post editing
Posted:
Sep 17, 2008, 5:23 PM
Thanks guys for your input.
Just wanted to re-iterate that editing is not a sin, just that sometimes it is confusing.
I was thinking this morning in addition to these changes we really need some guidelines for use of the forums, and maybe some suggestions about editing posts could be included in that as well. I'd rather have the pente community decided on what they want in the forum guidelines so if anyone wants to work on that most glorious of job feel free to contact me or add suggestions to this thread.
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Mar 1, 2002
From:
My Own Lil World Mostly
Age:
43
Re: Forum post editing
Posted:
Sep 18, 2008, 2:25 AM
Option #1: "don't allow editing posts more than a day or two old."
Opinion: Don't like the idea Reason: Not every person that wants to edit a post (for any reason they choose) is online daily.
Option #2: "send the email when posts are updated"
Opinion: Like the idea Reason: At least anyone interested enough to be "watching" the forums would understand the thread given the email history.
Option #3: "always put up a notice at the bottom of the thread that the post was edited (now that is optional)" Opinion: Like the idea as long as it is a one line entry and not a list of 40 statements saying post was edited at ##:## ##/##/#### statement. Reason: It would indicate to any new user that the content had been changed and they may possibly be able to decipher what occurred if they so desired.
Other Forum Experiences: Experience #1: Have a Forum Moderator (or several).
Most of the forums I have participated in have designated Moderators.
I have seen it in several formats: I have seen where at first you are placed in a Moderated Poster group. Where your first 10 posts are moderated and if no flaming occurs you are allowed to post freely until reported by another user (or number of users), the report(s) is(are) validated and the flaming user is dropped back into the Moderated Poster group. If the user persists in flaming time and again they can be flagged for "not allowed to post" for a period of time (including forever). I have also seen where every post no matter what was moderated.
One must be careful because this can cause many issues in itself, a few listed below:
#1: Fair Moderators are hard to come by, every person alive has a bias of some sort, and it can be very difficult to remain neutral and allow ones self to put the site before self.
#2: It becomes an us against them type scenario, people campaign to get certain persons removed from posting; always taking offense to anything a certain person posts and reporting posts to the moderators for no real reason other than they don't personally like that person. (this same type scenario happens against the Moderator as well, saying this remembering the Site Admin issues that occurred)
#3: Moderators come and go, and it becomes difficult for the Site Admin to keep up.
#4: It becomes a tireless task for the Moderator which results in the following behaviors: Allowing any post, Moderating to the point that nothing meaningful gets posted, and/or not allowing any posts.
Experience #2: Allowing every user to flag a post as a "flame" and after so many flags removing the post or sending to poster to have modified.
I did not like this because it was more of a thread changing issue than what is being experienced now and politics applied.
Experience #3: Putting a rating on a user that was on a sliding scale from Friendly/Fair to Hater/Mean that determined their ability to post.
I did not like this because it always ended up about politics.
I have seen more ways to try and limit/control the negativity and confusion that humans spit out into the world but have decided that it is just human nature, and, frankly, where there is a will there is a way, and in my opinion, what makes this whole world interesting!
That is my dollars worth, thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is smiling on their sides of the monitor!
Posts:
751
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From:
My Own Lil World Mostly
Age:
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Re: Forum post editing
Posted:
Sep 18, 2008, 2:32 AM
Lepews, I would love to help come up with the editing reasons in the pull down menu. haha
Reason 1: Was drunk and in a foul mood Reason 2: Felt like being mean to another user Reason 3: Misspelled a word Reason 4: Wanted to confuse the thread by removing text
